If you had to pick four heirlooms to sell at market

[Gardeneer]

You may try and educate them !
Slice one of your big OP/Heir and offer to taste a piece. Some will discover those tasty tomatoes and will come back for more. That is hot it is done in big grocery stores. I bet they know that it works.
Also, put up a big nice sign reading " HEIRLOOM / OP ".

[Worth1]

I'm surprised no one ever mentions Red Rocket.
I grew this tomato a few times and it is very good and productive.
Plus the color shape and size people look for.
It is determinate so you dont have to really go crazy with cages and it puts on big time early.
Heirloom maybe not but open pollinated and bushy.

Worth

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

You may try and educate them !
Slice one of your big OP/Heir and offer to taste a piece. Some will discover those tasty tomatoes and will come back for more. That is hot it is done in big grocery stores. I bet they know that it works.
Also, put up a big nice sign reading " HEIRLOOM / OP ".

Just make sure your market isn't in a city/town that requires compliance with food safety laws that would make slicing/serving without all the necessary licenses and permits illegal...

And yes, red and pretty would be safe if your goal is to make money, unless you're in an area with a lot of adventurous, creative, gourmet, foodie types.

We have a local farmer who sells out of a farm stand he built at the edge of his lot at one of the busiest intersections in town. He grows and sells primarily tomatoes and the stand is always very busy. My husband stopped last year to see what he had and bought one of each of the only three varieties he grows. All were large, red, beefsteak or round, tasteless (to me) hybrid varieties. He's usually sold out when I drive by late in the afternoon and at $3.99 a pound he's probably making a fortune.

[Worth1]

Speaking of stands.
I am working right next to the food truck section in down town Austin.
There are all sorts of things to buy.
Every day I look at the lines and the people at these trucks and trailers.
The folks selling the I think is called a Taste of Mexico is selling 10 to I above everyone else.
I have always wanted to have a food truck.
This is why I look and observe I'm the type of person that would make and sell food I didn't like if everyone else liked it.
You really like this I think, it sucks, no I really like it.
What ever.

You have to be the same way with everything when it come to money and customers.

Worth

[Black Krim]

Lurking.

[Cole_Robbie]

Illinois just came out with a new food safety course and license just for giving out samples. Only professionally-trained people are allowed to slice a tomato. Countless lives will of course be saved by the state's intervention in this matter.

Especially with cherry and saladette-sized tomatoes, it is a lot easier to just give a customer one. If they choose to eat it, then I can't stop them. Handing someone an uncut tomato is exempt from food safety rules, because it is not prepared.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Illinois just came out with a new food safety course and license just for giving out samples. Only professionally-trained people are allowed to slice a tomato. Countless lives will of course be saved by the state's intervention in this matter.

Especially with cherry and saladette-sized tomatoes, it is a lot easier to just give a customer one. If they choose to eat it, then I can't stop them. Handing someone an uncut tomato is exempt from food safety rules, because it is not prepared.

Don't get me started again.

Just the other day I brought tamales and a sandwich to work.
I ate the tamales and gave my sandwich to a homeless man after work.
I assured him it was okay.
He said no worries I am sure my old belly can take it considering what I have had to eat.
This guy never asks for anything and sits back in a corner out of the way.
Since I have started working downtown I give my left over food to the old homeless dudes not the young punks that hang out.

Of course I shouldn't do it, that way they would go back to their natural habitat like the bears.
Worth

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Illinois just came out with a new food safety course and license just for giving out samples. Only professionally-trained people are allowed to slice a tomato. Countless lives will of course be saved by the state's intervention in this matter.

Especially with cherry and saladette-sized tomatoes, it is a lot easier to just give a customer one. If they choose to eat it, then I can't stop them. Handing someone an uncut tomato is exempt from food safety rules, because it is not prepared.

Don't get Worth on a rant Cole. Jimbo

[peebee]

Every year I make extra seedlings and give them away to whoever wants them. One friend has a husband who is an enthusiastic gardener and they always appreciate the unusual varieties I grow. I still remember the first time they grew a black tomato; she said he asked her not to get such a variety from me again. He sliced into one and was nauseated by the look of the "blood-like" color and meaty fruit, said it was cutting into animal flesh. I make certain to give her only reds, pinks and oranges now.
Whenever I introduce people to different colored tomatoes I tell them to close their eyes as I put a sample in their mouths. That way, it won't let their eyes influence their brains before they taste.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Don't get me started again.

Just the other day I brought tamales and a sandwich to work.
I ate the tamales and gave my sandwich to a homeless man after work.
I assured him it was okay.
He said no worries I am sure my old belly can take it considering what I have had to eat.
This guy never asks for anything and sits back in a corner out of the way.
Since I have started working downtown I give my left over food to the old homeless dudes not the young punks that hang out.

Of course I shouldn't do it, that way they would go back to their natural habitat like the bears.
Worth

Yeah, I also think that lot of those regulations are just pure beurocratic. You don't need a special training and licensing to wash and slice a tomato. People go to farms, orchards, vineyards pick fruits and eat some while picking. A fruit is not a meal to be prepared and served.
JMO

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by peebee

Every year I make extra seedlings and give them away to whoever wants them. One friend has a husband who is an enthusiastic gardener and they always appreciate the unusual varieties I grow. I still remember the first time they grew a black tomato; she said he asked her not to get such a variety from me again. He sliced into one and was nauseated by the look of the "blood-like" color and meaty fruit, said it was cutting into animal flesh. I make certain to give her only reds, pinks and oranges now.
Whenever I introduce people to different colored tomatoes I tell them to close their eyes as I put a sample in their mouths. That way, it won't let their eyes influence their brains before they taste.

That's how I got my friend to eat rare back strap from deer.
And also got my wife to eat rare meat.
I had a brother in law that tossed his cookies watching the black and white Psycho move during the bathtub part.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Yeah, I also think that lot of those regulations are just pure beurocratic. You don't need a special training and licensing to wash and slice a tomato. People go to farms, orchards, vineyards pick fruits and eat some while picking. A fruit is not a meal to be prepared and served.
JMO

Some things are just so incredibly stupid they cant be right and this is one of them.

Just about every law they have passed has more or less shut down the little guy and propped up big business.
Worth

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Illinois just came out with a new food safety course and license just for giving out samples. Only professionally-trained people are allowed to slice a tomato. Countless lives will of course be saved by the state's intervention in this matter.

Especially with cherry and saladette-sized tomatoes, it is a lot easier to just give a customer one. If they choose to eat it, then I can't stop them. Handing someone an uncut tomato is exempt from food safety rules, because it is not prepared.

That's a good law Cole. Imagine what might happen if just anybody were allowed to slice tomatoes and some fool cut one upside down or something.! Complete chaos! Jimbo

[Gardeneer]

Back to the topic.
I think BIG BEEF (F1) should be a good choice.
It is RED, ROUND, productive and quite early .
It is vigorous with some disease resistance

[Cole_Robbie]

The year I lost all my seedlings to a freeze, I bought a flat of Big Beef to plant the high tunnel, and I was very happy with the crop.

Jet Star is the only hybrid that I think tastes as good as Big Beef. I can't tell the two of them apart, flavor-wise. I grew up with Jet Star. It was the only variety my grandparents grew, as their market tomato. It does not yield as well as Big Beef, but offers the advantage of shorter, more manageable plants.